On January 23, 1937, a group of 17 men — Karl Radek among them — faced judgment in what became known as the Second Moscow Trial. Serving as a critical instrument in Stalin's Great Purge, this proceeding aimed to eliminate perceived enemies of the state, with Trotskyists and opponents of Stalin's communist regime squarely in the crosshairs. (It's worth noting that Stalin also targeted middle class citizens and working class members who showed sympathy toward revolutionaries, though these groups weren't subjected to the same kind of formal courtroom proceedings.)

The Three Moscow Trials

At the direction of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union staged a sequence of show trials spanning 1936-1938. Those dragged before the court were largely Old Bolshevik Party leaders and high-ranking officials from the secret police.

Central to nearly every case was a charge under Article 58 of the RSfSR Penal Code — legislation enacted in February 1927 specifically designed to root out and destroy revolutionary elements bent on undermining Stalin's grip on power.

  • The First Trial: Kicking off in August 1936, the inaugural Moscow Trial carried the name "Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center." Sixteen political figures with ties to Leon Trotsky were convicted of conspiracy and subsequently shot in prison.
  • The Second Trial: This proceeding brought 17 comparatively obscure revolutionaries to the dock, Karl Radek included. Charges of treason led to sentences ranging from execution to forced labor. Karl Radek escaped the firing squad thanks to his knowledge of and connections to other revolutionaries, receiving instead a 10-year sentence of penal labor. He would ultimately perish in a labor camp overseen by senior NKVD operative Pytor Kubatkin.
  • The Third Trial: Known as the Trial of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites," this final proceeding saw 21 men brought before the court — essentially a cleanup operation to address unresolved matters from the earlier trials. All but two defendants were declared guilty and put to death, and one defendant's wife was even dispatched to a labor camp.

Quick Facts:

  • Among the most prominent figures swept up in the affair were Lev Kamenev, Karl Radek, Aleksey Ivanovich Rykov, Leon Trotsky, and Genrikh Yagoda, amongst others.
  • The Russian revolutionary was active in the Polish and German democratic movements.
  • Despite having helped draft the 1936 Soviet Constitution, Karl Radek found himself charged with treason. Following two and a half months of relentless interrogation, he ultimately confessed.
  • Brutal beatings and torture were routinely employed to coerce defendants into confessing. These confessions were then rehearsed before being delivered in open court. A US representative who observed the proceedings pronounced the confessions legitimate — effectively cutting off Soviet citizens from any prospect of outside assistance.